Mobile computing devices are becoming ubiquitous personal tools that provide users access to data, networks, and other functionality nearly anywhere the user may travel. As familiarity, and even dependency, on mobile computing devices increases, the security risks associated with the mobile computing devices increase as well. In particular, many common uses of mobile computing devices result in a reduction of a user's physical control over the mobile computing device. For example, the user may desire to share pictures, video, or other content with other individuals by placing the mobile computing device on a surface to facilitate common viewing by all. Alternatively, the user may pass around the mobile computing device to each acquaintance to allow the person to personally view or consume the content. Additionally, when the mobile computing device is left unattended, such as during charging, the risk of a security event increases.
Some mobile computing devices have attempted to improve security on the device through frequent user authentication requests. For example, if no activity is detected on the mobile computing device for a duration of time, the mobile computing device may prompt the user to actively authenticate before allowing the user to interact with the mobile computing device. The more frequent such user authentication request, the greater the security of the mobile computing device. However, repeated user authentication is inconvenient, can reduce user efficiency, and can breed poor security habits (e.g., by causing the user to select easily memorable passcodes).